Dear teenof13,
It is quite clear that you are not trying to be very disrispectful- only a little disrespectful. You did not bring up any good points and this was not a good post. I do not feel for you and my heart does not go out for you.
Your father has a lot of responsibilities. He has a family to run and a mortgage to worry about. I’ll bet most of his average day is spent dealing with getting the proper funds to put food on YOUR plate and pay for YOUR prust clothing. Perhaps he has other family members who require physical care. He has a job that he must professionally maintain and yet he must find time to learn. The list can go on and on depending on the man. All you do is sit at home and complain. Give the poor man a break. If you want to speak to him, you are going to have to make an appointment. I’m sure he won’t turn you down. He loves you very much; having children isn’t just for social status.
Judging by the fact that you don’t have proper respect for your father, it would similarly follow that you have little social tact. You should read “How to win friends and influence others” by Dale Carnegie. However, that doesn’t help for now so I will give you a boost by providing you with a sample of what you might want to say.
“Excuse me, Dad. Can I speak with you when you finish this conversation.”
“Do you think perhaps you will have time today to talk about what happened with my friend Chanie/ play a game of scrabble/ study for be’ur tefilla with me?”
“Oh. How about tomorrow night?”
“Well, how about Wednesday night?”
“What about next Sunday?”
And if something comes up and he is forced to reschedule for another time? Please don’t mention it. Your mind cannot comprehend how bad he feels about it.
Most importantly, however, is the point that you really don’t hate your father. I think that mdlevine should apologize to you for influencing you to write that letter.
mdlevine clearly had a chip on his shoulder and independent of anything you wrote on the tznius thread, wanted such a letter to be written. Mdlevine, grasping onto a slight mention of frustration that could have simply had to do with the mood you were in at the time, used you to do his bidding, exaggerated your point and influenced you to express yourself the way you did above. Once that was done, you felt the need to defend your position.
Although he most likely will not back down just as you didn’t back down, you should know that someone out there understands.